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Furnishing Your Rented Property in York on a Budget

chair, sideboard and statement vase on a wooden floor

If you’ve just moved into a rented house or flat, making it feel like home can be tricky when you don’t have any control over the colours of the walls or the type of kitchen cabinets you have. Plus, if you’ve just dropped a load of money on a deposit and your first month’s rent then you can’t afford a big trip to IKEA.

 

Snap Up a Bargain

Luckily, if you live in York then there’s the most amazing place to get some great furniture without breaking your budget. This gem is the Community Furniture Store. You can find it off James Street (behind Morrisons). All the furniture is second-hand (apart from a selection of brand new items like beds) so there’s a fantastic selection of different styles. You’re bound to find some things that will have your new house or flat feeling like home. And the best thing is that most deliveries to York are free (I imagine you’d need to pay if you were buying several heavy items).

 

I would definitely recommend having a hunt around the store to see if there are some things that suit your style. A few carefully chosen pieces that really make you happy will make a huge difference to your new space.

 

York Community Furniture Store

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Quick Tips for Keeping Your Carpets Clean

Closeup of carpet

A soft, cosy carpet looks and feels great, but you need to work at keeping it in top condition. Here are our quick tips to extend the life of the carpets in your home.

 

Regular vacuum cleaning

Vacuuming your carpets weekly stops any major build up of dirt, dust and hair making it much easier to keep them in good condition. Be careful with very delicate carpets and avoid using a beater bar on anything with a loop pile.

 

Tackle stains as soon as they happen

When something gets spilled try to deal with it straight away. If it’s a liquid then blot it up with a cloth or paper towel to get it as dry as possible. If the liquid has left a stain then tackle it using a stain remover made for carpets or a home-based solution. This is a great article on using different household products to remove different kinds of stain.

 

Neutralise bad smells

If your carpets seem a bit musty, particularly in the high-traffic areas, then spread around some baking soda and leave it to settle for 10 minutes before vacuuming it up. This should remove any bad smells and leave no odour at all. If you want to go a step further you can add in a few drops of an essential oil that you like to leave your carpets with a lovely fragrance. Here’s a guide for how much to use from Organic Authority.

 

Catch the dirt at the door

This sounds like an obvious one but having some great mats at your front and back doors will go a long way to avoiding dirt from the outside world being trodden into the carpets. Give them a regular beat out (outdoors!) and a good vacuum every week.

 

A deep clean

Once or twice a year, consider a deep clean for your carpets. You’ll be surprised at just how much of a difference it can make. Nothing beats the feel of freshly cleaned carpets underfoot, so let us take all the hassle out of refreshing your carpets with a full professional clean. Get in touch today for a free, no obligation quote.

 

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The Ultimate Cleaning Kit: The First Step to Student Household Harmony

A clean and clear dining table

So there are probably many things that you’d rather be doing, but a quick bit of cleaning on a regular basis can help keep your student household living together in happiness. Every student house has one super-clean housemate who’s mind is melting in frustration at the others. Go on, help them out and stop their head from popping with this simple solution:  the ultimate cleaning kit. Keep all these things in stocked up and make any cleaning job easy.

 

Anti-bacterial cleaning wipes

Perfect for pretty much everything, especially kitchen and bathroom surfaces.

Microfibre cloths

Great for keeping gadgets and touchscreens clean.

Bleach

Extra thick stuff is great for applying to the inside of the toilet. Do this regularly enough and hopefully you shouldn’t need to do much scrubbing.

Rubber gloves

Keep harsh chemicals off your hands, but remember to keep them clean and dry and replace them regularly.

Dust cloth

A quick wipe over surfaces regularly will help to avoid dust settling and help out anyone who might have allergies. Dusting during freshers’ flu season is a must!

Floor wipes

If you have hard floors then getting out the mop and bucket can seem like a huge job. Get a flat floor mop that you can clip floor wipes in to, like this one.

Handheld vacuum

Tackle spills and crumbs as they happen and get in those awkward spaces behind the sofa.

 

Keep your cleaning kit in a plastic tub or box and decide on a cleaning schedule that you can stick on the side so that everyone knows their jobs for the day. But, remember, democracy people! Do this together as a household to avoid any bad feelings.